Natasha Ryz co-wrote a paper on the history of root-ball medicine and possible uses. I have yet to read it, but it's definitely on my list for the near future. The information from the podcast alone has me taking a good long second look at roots.

Quote:

Introduction

The cannabis plant is known for its multiple uses: the leaves, flowers, seeds, stalks, and resin glands have all been exploited for food, fuel, fiber, medicine, and other uses. One of the first mentions of the medical use of cannabis root was by the Roman historian, Pliny the Elder, who wrote in his Natural Histories that “a decoction of the root in water relaxes contractions of the joints and cures gout and similar maladies.”1 By the latter part of 17th century, various physicians and herbalists recommended cannabis root to treat fever,2,3 inflammation,4–9 gout, arthritis, and joint pain,1,5,6,8,10–12 as well as skin burns5,8,10 and hard tumors.6–8 There are also accounts of cannabis root being used to treat postpartum hemorrhage,13 difficult child labor,14 sexually transmitted disease,15 and gastrointestinal activity16,17 and infection.3,8 Despite a long history of therapeutic use (Table 1), the roots of cannabis plants have been largely ignored in modern medical research and practice.

Quick takeaways:

Cannabis is great at phytoremediation, make sure your root zone is free of toxins, heavy metals, excess elements, etc. Hydro may be the easiest way to produce clean roots.

Roots are tough to chop up. lol (yeah, they are!)

Most information known is on topical applications for pain and inflammation.

Topicals of only root preparations do not trigger drug test failures.

Various extraction and preparation methods work.

Some information is available on edible/ingestion uses.

Mentions of the use for gout, fever, inflammation, arthritis, joint pain, skin burns and what were referred to as "hard tumors" (possibly cancer tumors?)

I'm definitely interested in reducing inflammation and pain, especially targeting locally with a topical. I've experienced gout years ago, but have had no issues since discovering it's completely food related.

I'll be doing an olive-oil/water extraction this week and posting the results. Got roots??

I have actually cold extracted cleaned, and dried roots in the past, it takes a long time ( like 8 weeks) There is a faster way but it requires heat and more attention.......

The first time I tried to make it I left some roots exposed in air on the top of the mason jar, and it went rancid.

Second time I chopped up the roots a bit more, and filled the jar all the way with oil to prevent oxidation, and it was successful... (I used grapeseed oil)

We made a lavender balm with it, and there were reports coming back with some promising results, from people who tried it, but I kind of just stopped doing it after some time (was a lot of work).. I think I still have some of the cold extracted oil somewhere in my closet..

Thank you, MrBungle. Processing, what a chore, and I can understand why you quit. Do you happen to still know where the cold method information came from? I'm very interested in all methods at this point. I'm about to rinse and chop up a root ball and not looking forward to it. lol

I bookmarked the site I used to make it, but it was no longer available... so I looked around.. and I think my terminology was wrong.. its not called cold extracted oil, it is an oil infusion... The directions for solar infused oils in this site are closest to the directions I followed for my root oil

I bookmarked the site I used to make it, but it was no longer available... so I looked around.. and I think my terminology was wrong.. its not called cold extracted oil, it is an oil infusion... The directions for solar infused oils in this site are closest to the directions I followed for my root oil

Awesome, thanks!

I just washed a 3gallon bucket of soil/roots. What a pain. :( I'm definitely using clean hydro roots when I can. Easy rinse and on to processing. heheheh Crock pot is already cooking, so it looks like I'm sort of using the quick method mentioned. Planning on hot water washing a few times, then freezing to get the last of the water out.

Rinsing Dirt Roots the Easy? Way
This is the method I used to clean soil roots. It may be a little quicker and easier than other methods I've heard people using. I've been transplanting soil to hydro and hydro to soil for over a decade, so this isn't really anything new for me.

Buckets
Use two buckets of the appropriate size for your root ball. I used 5 gallon buckets for a root ball from a 3 gallon pot. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but everything worked out in the end.
Initial Breaking of the Root Ball
(This part is new to me, usually I gently tickle all the soil off the roots for transplanting. lol)

Fill the first bucket with tepid water and your root ball

Let the root ball soak until moist

Cut or tear out chunks of the root ball and pinch them underwater, to break up the soil in them

Swish the chunk of roots around to get most of the loose soil to rinse out

Squeeze the soil/water out of the chunk and toss it in the other bucket

Repeat this until the root ball is gone

Understanding The Physics Saves Time
You now have a bucket of soil/roots on the bottom and soil/roots floating at the top. Roots sink and float up slower than soil particles, use this to your advantage. When you agitate the top mix of soil and roots, the soil will float up first and the roots will form a loose mat underneat this layer. The same happens with the bottom, with the soil dropping fast and the roots making a loose mat on top.

Stir the floating mass of soil bits and roots so it mixes with the water in the middle of the bucket

Let it sit for a few seconds

Put your hand through the floating layer and gently scrape the root buildup from the bottom of the floating soil mat

Squeeze the soil/water out of the mass and toss it in the other bucket

Repeat until you're only grabbing floating soil

Stir up the bottom layer of soil/roots and let it sit for a minute

Gently scrape the loose mat of roots off of the bottom soil layer

Squeeze the soil/water out of it and toss it in the other bucket

Repeat until only soil is left

I repeated these steps through 6 total rinses. I then tore the roots up by hand, picking out the larger bits of leftover soil, and put them in a crock pot.

I added about 3/4ths of a cup of olive oil and topped it up with water. I put it on high for an hour, and it's been on low overnight about 18hrs now. I just checked the temp and it's 210F... Ouch!?!? I don't remember anything about heat limits or minimums, so I hope I didn't cook anything.

When it cools down to working temp I'll be using a garlic press to squeeze the roots out (Tedious, I know, but I don't have a potato ricer). I'm also planning on cooking them again for a few hours with another 3/4ths cup of olive oil. See if the second extraction works as well, better, weaker, not at all?